If you read a child a story, she’ll ask for another book.
At least that’s what locals in the book business are hoping comes from the Downtown Story Walk running through February. Starting Monday, kids can walk through downtown and read the children’s book “If You Give a Pig a Pancake” by Laura Joffe Numeroff. The pages of the book, including the illustrations by Felicia Bond, will be enlarged and displayed in the windows of downtown businesses.
The idea is to promote children’s literacy and specifically the 2021 Winter Reading Challenge at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library System, said Tori Hopper, children and teens librarian and services coordinator at the Columbus branch. Children, teens and adults are all encouraged to sign up for the challenge and read 10 books between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28.
“We’re just trying to get people out in the community to read,” Hopper said. “If that means they can go around town and read a story and get to know their local businesses at the same time, why wouldn’t we help with that?”
The pages will be displayed starting Monday, with the first page in the windows of Coffee House on Fifth on Fifth Street North. The children and their families can then walk from business to business reading the story, eventually circling back around and finishing at Fifth Street North bookstore Friendly City Books.
“I think it’s a really fun way to help promote literacy and have an event where people can do something interactive but still keep it safe during COVID,” said Emily Liner, owner of Friendly City Books, which has been open two months.
Hopper said she reached out to several local businesses downtown to ask if they wanted to participate, and “no one said no.” The walk includes nine businesses, all located in a circle around the intersection of Fifth and Main streets. Each page in a business window tells the reader which business to go to next.
While the walk is not specifically to promote the businesses, Hopper said she feels it doesn’t hurt them either.
“(The librarians are) trying to encourage the kids, especially, to keep reading during all this,” said Barbara Bigelow, executive director for Main Street Columbus, which will also have a page in its window. “They’re not able to have people to come there and read. … It’s just a way to get people out walking around but reading, just something different to offer. I think it’s a really cute idea.”
Liner said she’s happy downtown businesses, which she said are very tight-knit, are participating in the walk together.
“We all visit each other’s businesses pretty frequently, so I’m excited that we’ll have so many merchants participating,” she said. “The interactive nature of the program is I think going to benefit everyone.”
Hopper said the book itself is also a good one for this program.
“The tone of the book is very, ‘If you do this, then you have to do this, and then you have to do this,'” Hopper said. “All the books in the (series which starts with the book) ‘If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,’ … are set up so that your consequences keep piling up, so I thought that would work well for a story walk because you want to see what happens next. When you give the pig a pancake, she’s going to want some syrup. So then you walk to the next location to see what happens when she gets the syrup.”
While the library has done similar story walks in public parks to promote summer reading challenges, this is the first time local businesses have participated, Hopper said.
She said anyone who wants to participate in the challenge can sign up through the library’s website at lowndes.beanstack.org. At the end of February, everyone who finishes 10 books will be entered into a drawing, and three winners — one child, one teenager and one adult — will have the chance to win Amazon Gift cards.
Mostly though, Hopper said, she wants to keep people in the community reading.
“It’s really just to encourage the act of reading,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be a book from Friendly City or from us. We’re just more than happy to support that. It’s really just about supporting literacy and making sure our community is one made up of readers.”
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